Options for the extension of the Falkland Islands' Mount Pleasant airport passenger terminal will be considered by the local elected authorities in the coming weeks. According to Penguin News, quoting lawmaker MLA Barry Elsby, options will be put before the Executive Council early in the new year.
The Executive Council has today Wednesday authorised the Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands Government to complete the necessary negotiations with LATAM Airlines Brazil and to finalise a contract, subject to agreement with MLAs, to establish and operate a new weekly route between Sao Paulo and the Falkland Islands.
The proposed second airline service between the Falklands and South America with a once a month stopover in Argentina, drew both strongly voiced concerns and praise at a public meeting held on Wednesday evening in Stanley. Worried citizens suggested Argentina might manipulate Islanders by threatening to interrupt the link to Sao Paulo, Brazil in the longer term.
The second commercial flight from the Falkland Islands to a third country in the region with a stopover in an Argentine airport has been agreed, according to reports in Ambito Financiero, a Buenos Aires financial daily.
The Falkland Islands government announced on Wednesday it has received an evaluation report regarding a second weekly air link to the Falklands, from specialist consulting Aviation Economics, and will be briefing the Executive Council at their 13 June meeting, and recommending a response to the proposed options.
The Falkland Islands government has announced details of next Monday's visit of relatives of the Argentine fallen soldiers whose remains, at the Argentine military cemetery at Darwin, were recently identified by a special team led by the International Red Cross. The release states the following:
The Falkland Islands government and the Ministry of Defense have agreed to address the challenge of rotor winds, which have become a serious problem for the operations at the Mount Pleasant Complex.
The Falkland Islands' Executive Council has considered a proposal to investigate the future development options for Stanley Airport. A paper put to ExCo by the General Manager Aviation Services and Director of Civil Aviation was described as not a comprehensive review of all the options, but gives approval for the Chief Executive to develop clear terms of reference for a study which can define the realistic potential usage options for Stanley Airport.
Too many documented delays to flights might reduce the attractiveness of the Falklands in terms of an airline considering providing an additional service to the Islands, acknowledged Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Gavin Short this week.
THE air terminal at Mount Pleasant is likely to be subject to civilianisation in approximately nine months, and be rebuilt, or extended or refurbished in two and a half years, stated the Chief Executive Barry Rowland at the public meeting on Monday.